Basketball stoush

By
BRAD COLE

Basketball stoush

TWO of the North-West's most senior basketball identities are at odds on the potential return of a Tasmanian team into the National Basketball League.

Lou Cox and Mark Radford spoke to The Advocate yesterday following NBL chief executive Fraser Neill's visit to the state on Tuesday, when he outlined expansion plans for the eight-team league.

Neill said the plan was to bring four new teams into the NBL for the 2015-2016 season, with Tasmania a strong chance to be represented for the first time since the Hobart Devils folded in 1996.

Cox, who is president of Basketball Tasmania, said he was concerned about what resources would be needed to fund a new club, and the flow-on effect to the four SEABL teams in the state.

``We'd certainly look at where we stood and what we can do in regards to an NBL team, bearing in mind what effect it would have on the four SEABL teams that we are currently involved in,'' he said

``My understanding is that the cost (for a team) is about $3.5 million, so it would be interesting to see where that sort of money came from - it's certainly out of our league as a state.

``To get a community-based club up, when currently our four SEABL teams are costing $1 million, would be an extra $2.5 million.

``For one team which might only have up to three Tasmanian's in it, I think they would find support on a state basis difficult.''

Radford, who was a former assistant coach at NBL clubs Perth and Adelaide, and now works for Basketball Tasmania as its basketball development manager, was certainly more bullish about the chances of a state-based team.

He believes that growth of the game is a necessity with two million people playing Leg 1basketball in Australia, and Tasmania can sustain both an NBL program and four SEABL programs.

``We have basketball thriving in smaller regions under a new model that I believe can be sustainable, especially here in Tasmania, where we have a strong basketball community,'' Radford said.

``Under the right model, I think it can be a very prosperous thing our kids can aspire to, and I see as being very complimentary [to the SEABL programs].

``We might look at how we do things in terms of players transferring between clubs, but it allows the NBL players to assimilate into our SEABL teams and work together more than how it does now.''

Neill is keen to see NBL crowds pack out smaller stadiums rather than half-fill cavernous arenas, with Hobart's Derwent Entertainment Centre the ideal sized venue as a home base.

Radford, said some games would need to be played in the regional areas to get the whole state to buy into the program, which in turn would generate plenty of excitement.

``We've got to change the mindset that we have to play in the big domes,'' he said. ``The big cities may be able to do that, but even the Sydney Kings are going to have to go to a smaller venue because their current one is too expensive to hire.

``It would be great to jump in your car in Burnie and take your family to Devonport to watch Shawn Redhage and Matty Knight play. Why wouldn't you be excited about that?''